


Romana has a crush

by LadyZoZo



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, Mentioned Susan Foreman, Teacher Crush, young romana
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24832279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyZoZo/pseuds/LadyZoZo
Summary: Romana has a crush on her newest tutor at the academy and it starts to distract her during lessons
Relationships: Irving Braxiatel/Romana I
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	Romana has a crush

Romana tapped her finger against the table while she focused, or tried to focus, on what Tutor Braxiatel was saying. She was finding this somewhat hard to do though as she was more than a little distracted.

See, the thing is Romana hadn’t liked Braxiatel. Not at first anyway. She’d always thought he was a bit… portentous. In fact up until recently, she’d barely thought more of him beyond that small, simple adjective. That had all changed when she’d actually started taking his classes though.

The way Braxiatel talked about the History of Art Around the Universe was utterly mesmerizing. He spoke with such passion about the subject that it was starting to rub off on Romana. She’d never considered herself much of an artist, she’d only taken this class because she got bored during free periods, but after just a small handful of his classes she was already finding herself becoming intrigued about the subject.

It was the way he actually knew what he was talking about. With Braxiatel you could really tell that he had seen the things he was talking about, he knew things from firsthand experience. The other tutors, or at least most of them, just retaught the same things they’d been taught when they were young and stuck to the curriculum. And whilst that wasn’t a bad method of teaching Romana vastly preferred hearing Braxiatel’s anecdotes and first hand experiences. She was honestly shocked at how quickly she’d come to like him and his methods.

Romana stares at Braxiatel standing in the front of the room. He was still addressing the class, talking about a 100 foot tall painting made by a bluish person with no hands, and seemed rather enthusiastic about it. He was going in depth about the artist and why they painted it and who they painted it for and how they managed it. It was enthralling to listen to.

The way his eyes seemed to sparkle when he spoke about his favourite subject was rather distracting though. His bright blue eyes just seemed to come alive with wonder when he spoke. It was hard not to get distracted by that. Romana wondered how the others in the class managed to pay attention when the tutor was so…

No. Bad Romana. Do not finish that sentence. You do not think about your superiors in such an objectifying way.

It’s not my fault he’s pretty.

“Shush.” Romana tells herself, pinching her arm to snap her mind out of that train of thought. She gets a few odd looks from her classmates but she ignores them, she was used to them finding her odd anyway.

Just listen to what he’s saying. You don’t have to actually look at him.

Romana does this for a while. She takes down mental notes on Braxiatel’s words and makes sure to remember specific things that would pop up in the quiz later. Braxiatel always did a quiz and it was always incredibly hard. Thankfully Romana was getting rather good at guessing what was going to appear in the quix. Braxiatel’s unpredictability made him easy to predict.

Romana liked how unpredictable he was though. It made him seem more… alive. Less by the books than the other tutors, but in a good way.

It was odd how mesmerizing she was finding his voice. She could listen to him talk all day, it was just really pleasant to hear him talk. She wondered if he did recorded lectures, she could listen to them while she did her homework.

Actually that’s probably a bit obsessive, she shouldn’t do that.

“Romanadvoratrelundar are you quite ok?” The boy beside her interrupts her train of thought.

“What-” Romana looks around at him. “Oh, yes Darkel I’m fine. Trying to concentrate on Braxiatel, leave me alone.”

“He stopped talking thirty seconds ago.” Darkel tells her. “And you were staring at him.”

“So what if I was?”

“It’s not normal.”

“So?”

“Well it’s weird.”

“Darkel if I wanted your opinion I would have asked for it.” Romana tells her.

“Oh charming.” He sneers at her. “Did you even hear what we’re supposed to do?”

“Of course.” Romana lies, holding herself upright. “What do you take me for, some kind of slacker? Now shut up and let me get on with this.”

“I see why they call you the Ice Maiden.” Darkel rolls his eyes and leans down over his work. The insult stings a little but Romana pushes it to the back of her mind. She needed to figure out what she was supposed to be doing and arguing with Darkel wasn’t going to help with that.

“Romanadvoratrelundar?” Braxiatel’s voice calls out to her across the room. “You look lost, can I help with anything?”

Romana almost chokes on the spot. She had never been called out by name by Braxiatel before, apart from registration. “No sir, I can manage.”

“Are you sure? You don’t even have your info-pad out.”

“I was… just about to get it.” Romana tells him.

“Good.” Braxiatel somehow stretches the word into multiple syllables. “Wouldn’t want my best student slacking now would we?”

Romana silently chokes on those words as Braxiatel turns away from her. Her? His best student? Surely not.

“Ooh look at you, little miss perfect.” Darkel grumbles at Romana under his breath.

Romana sits upright again and clears her throat. “It is not my fault I’m exceptional.” She smiles smugly at Darkel and draws out her info-pad to start the work. She somehow maintains the posture of someone who knew what they were doing, when in reality she was silently freaking out in her head about being called Braxiatel’s best student. Oh she couldn’t wait to tell Arkytior after class hours, she just couldn’t keep this to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> this is kinda short but i hope it's enjoyable :)
> 
> (and yes i did just make darkel's first regeneration a boy, what of it)


End file.
